Job Redesign for Lower Skilled Employees

at a Government Agency

Project Description

Solutionsatwork was engaged by a local government agency to review and redesign the jobs of non-executive employees. The objective of the exercise was to design jobs that were more value adding, and which were meaningful to job holders. Implicit in the project brief was the drive towards greater work efficiency.

Project Start-State

Several observations were made:

A large number of technical and support staff were employed in support positions

Many of the staff have been employed at the agency a long time – the scope of work has remained relatively unchanged over time, despite advances in technology

There is very little distinction between job levels

The current jobs are not challenging and do not provide any degree of job satisfaction

Project Deliverables

The following were developed:

Key processes of affected job scopes were mapped to identify elements of work that were value-adding and meaningful. Work elements that were less value adding were eliminated or reduced through the use of automation, or through process reengineering

Job responsibilities of higher level roles were evaluated to determine if they could be performed by more junior staff. Job roles were expanded for more senior technical and support staff, allowing more room for autonomy

Where possible, end-to-end processes that were performed by mutiple parties were re-constituted and assigned to job holders. This made the work more purposeful, and enhanced job accountability and ownership of process outcomes

Career progression pathways were redefined to make differences in job levels more distinct, and to reinforce the hierarchy between junior and senior technical and support staff

The redesigned jobs succeeded in removing job elements that were low value adding, and enhancing overall job worth through the addition of more complex tasks. Responsiveness to internal customers has also improved due to greater oversight of processess, and greater ownership of the entire process chain. Overall, the project achieved its stated goals of making technical and support jobs more meaningful, and of re-energizing technical and support staff by providing more challenge and greater autonomy.

Find out more...

Contact us for an obligation-free consult. We’d be delighted to hear from you.